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Growing Tomatoes

World's Largest Tomato - advertised on ebay

16 years ago

Not sure of identity - seller says

"the variety is a closley gaurded secret"

Worlds Largest Tomato Fruits exceeding 2.5 kgs Item number: 180132921799

price: AU $4.50

These Plants will produce tomatoes over a long period with many wonderful large juicy fruits weighing well over Two and a Half Kilo's.

You are bidding for 5 Seeds

Postage is a flat rate of $2.20 for any amount of seed packets purchased.

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Comments (14)

carolyn137
16 years ago
There's no secret b/c the current and long time recognized World's Record is the variety Delicious, very available almost everywhere, grown by Gordan Graham of OK and it weighed, I believe something like 7# 12 oz.

Obviously most folks who grow that variety, and many do, don't get fruits anywheres near that size. Those who grow for competition sized fruits treat their plants in a special way by, for instance, removing most blossoms and then thinning the fruits that do set to just a few per plant.

My mantra has always been to avoid e-bay offers such as that one like the plague. ( smile)

Carolyn
reginald_317
16 years ago
My mantra has always been to avoid e-bay offers such as that one like the plague...

domeman,

Heed Carolyn's advice on this.

However for a bigly-fruited tom variety, you may wanna try Totally Tomatoes and get some BigZac seed... they carried it in early 2007 season but may currently have none.

Reg
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carolyn137
16 years ago
However for a bigly-fruited tom variety, you may wanna try Totally Tomatoes and get some BigZac seed... they carried it in early 2007 season but may currently have none.

*****

And yes, Big Zac as grown by Minnie Z who bred it has won a lot of big toamto contests, but most folks who grow it get fruits in the 1-2 # range as reported here and elsewhere.

Others with the genetic capacity to grow large might include:

Large Pink Bulgarian
Omar's Lebanese
Zogola
Tidwell German
Red Barn

.......and many more.

And what's wrong with growing the variety Delicious which does hold the current World's Record?( smile)

Carolyn
reginald_317
16 years ago
Others with the genetic capacity to grow large might include:

Large Pink Bulgarian
Omar's Lebanese
Zogola
Tidwell German
Red Barn

Hi Carolyn,

Only one of above I have grewed was OL... big fruits but very vacuous and not very tasty. That was the single instance but I did not try again this season. And Delicious I grewed in 2005 season and was a disaster. Was like a Det plant and got diseased and presented premature perishment.

What I like for full-sized tom fruits are ones that present dense flesh. This is why I am doing lots of the heart cultivars this time. I got one of your Yasha Yugos in now... small but healthy.

I do have 2 BigZacs and may try to prune them to win a local contest for tom fruit size.

Reg
HoosierCheroKee
16 years ago
Big Zac so far is a total looser in my garden ... over 5 feet tall and no tomatoes ... none! ... although it has produced and aborted many many flowers over the past 30 - 40 days.

Yeah ... could be a grower related problem, 'cept all its closest neighbors on each of the four sides (Novikov's Giant, Cherokee Purple PL, Glory, Brandywine x Neves Azorean Red) are loaded up with plenty of green tomatoes. In fact, when it stops sprinkling and dries up a little, I plan on yankin' that looser out and replacing it with a young WWW Black Brandywine ... couldn't do any worse!

Bill
brainsander
16 years ago
Hey Domeman! It's up to you if you wanna pay 4.50 for some seeds of "The worlds biggest tomato", or not. As correctly stated here all ready, the current recored holder for the worlds biggest tomato grown was of the variety Delicious. I live here in Oklahoma (and not far from Edmond) and have spoken with family members of the late Mr. Graham... They attest that indeed Delicious was the variety that he grew the 7 pounder from. Also they attest that it was technique PLUS variety that attributed to the monster. Won't go into great detail, but will say that he went to great lengths to assure that THAT particular plant and fruit fared as well as possible. It was as much attributed to ideal environmental conditions, and gardening determination, as varietal selection. The biggest tomato that I have ever grown (sans extra pruning, and fertilizing techniques) is still Florida Pink. Had a single fruit of Florida Pink in 2004 that almost weighed four pounds. Many other 2+ pounders have appeared also from this variety. As all ready mentioned here there are a lot of cultivars that are predispositioned to be biguns... If you have the cash to spare, why not try these says I ! But, I would reccomend several others on sheer experience of great results. No matter what you decide to do- Good luck in your garden in 2007!-B-ri
HoosierCheroKee
16 years ago
"Also they attest that it was technique PLUS variety that attributed to the monster. Won't go into great detail, but will say that he went to great lengths to assure that THAT particular plant and fruit fared as well as possible." [brainsander]

Seems somewhere back in the recesses of this foggy grey matter lurks a memory that Mr. Graham said he was using old CB radio tower sections at trellises, and a wind storm toppled one of the cages, and some time later, after letting the plant sprawl in a mess across the ground, he was trying to re-erect the caged plant and discovered the 7+ pound monster under the jumbled up mess of vine and foliage.
onoffexitramp
16 years ago
hoosiercherokee: I believe this is the Gordon Graham world record tomato info you are referring too.

Here is a link that might be useful: gordon graham tomato record info.
bigdaddyj
16 years ago
I'm a Big Zac grower for many years and for me it does great. Loads of HUGE tomatoes. I do no special pruning and grow organically and every year get a couple over three pounds and many, many over a pound.

Delicious is a dud IMO. They taste nothing like their name implies. And are way smaller tom per tom than Big Zac.

That's my experience anyway...
coolbythecoast
16 years ago
Carolyn said:
And what's wrong with growing the variety Delicious which does hold the current World's Record?( smile)

***********

Well, in my cool climate I have grown a lot of varieties, but I have tried Delicious for 3 years running and never have had a single fruit set! So I guess there is something to these 'heat units' that I hear about.

Supersteak seems to be happy with my climate, however, as I have consistently had huge fruit from this variety.

Gary
barkeater
16 years ago
Reg, hopefully you are growing Wes as one of your hearts. It yielded my largest fruit last year, just under 3# and very dense. I still prefer the flavor of Big Zac, which is also very meaty compared to many other beefsteaks, with many 2# tomatoes each year.
shirleywny5
16 years ago
I have grown delicious here in my zone 5 just south of Buffalo. It was not only the largest but also the most delicious.
tomatogreenthumb
16 years ago
I am growing Delicious, Supersteak, Red Mortgage Lifter, Porterhouse Beefsteak, Pineapple, and Ultimate Giant side by side in a raised bed this summer........gonna be an interesting comparison for yield and individual tomato size.
Also have a Marianna's Peace pink tomato in a nearby bed.

My favorite tasting tomato though is Red Oxheart.....and they are of good size too. They all convert manure into delicious tasting tomatoes.
reginald_317
16 years ago
Reg, hopefully you are growing Wes as one of your hearts...

Hi Bark,

I grew Wes in 2006 and was excellent. I have one in a cohorts's plot this time. The hi density (texture) of flesh I like because it confers a very intense tom flavor for fresh eating. They would make very good sauce/paste toms but would be a shame to use many of them for that purpose.

Not that I do not enjoy juicy varieties. To me different tastes and textures are of interest. So Roma & Celebrity and more Roma & Celebrity are great for some (and those are OK by me), but I prefer some differences in taste.

Reg

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